Nowak, Perez named to ALPB First Team, five Revs on Second Team, Eric Menzer named co-General Manager of the Year

The Atlantic League Postseason All-Star Team has been released, along with the individual awards for 2012. As expected, the first and second teams are rife with Revolution players. However, Lancaster outfielder Blake Gailen edged Chris Nowak for Atlantic League Player of the Year honors, as he did for Baseball America Player of the Year. Interestingly enough, Nowak, who played first and third this season was the first baseman on the Baseball America All-Star Team, but is the third baseman on the Atlantic League team. Lancaster swept the awards, as Dwayne Pollok was named Pitcher of The Year and Butch Hobson is Manager of the Year. So congratulations to them. Here are all the awards, then the official press release from the Revolution about their awards after the jump.

The Atlantic League announced its annual postseason awards today, with the York Revolution once again well-represented. The Revs, who reached the postseason for the fourth time in franchise history and third consecutive year, boast two First Team All-Star selections and five Second Team All-Star selections. Additionally, Revolution President and General Manager Eric Menzer has been named the league’s co-General Manager of the Year, while third baseman Chris Nowak was named the league’s September Player of the Month.

Just two days after being selected to Baseball America’s All-Independent Team, Nowak and Andres Perez add First Team Atlantic League All Star honors to their resume as well. York’s Second Team selections include outfielders Michael Hernandez and Brandon Haveman, starting pitchers Corey Thurman and Ryan Feierabend, and reliever Ricardo Gomez.

Nowak is a First Team selection for the second consecutive season, and enjoyed one of the most prolific offensive seasons in Atlantic League history in 2012. Bashing a club record 34 homers with 107 RBI, Nowak outpaced the rest of the league’s competition by seven homers and a whopping 15 runs driven in, giving him the league’s highest totals in both categories since 2005. He provided the Revs with more than just power, batting a solid .285 overall in 129 games played. He led the league in slugging percentage (.570) for the second consecutive season, while finishing second in the league in walks (71) and extra-base hits (63), and third in on-base percentage (.391).

Nowak, who also became the Revs’ all-time career home run leader during the season, now with 59 in his York career, reached the campaign’s finish line on an incredible pace, nailing 23 homers in his final 67 games played, while driving in 66 runs over his last 59 contests. That included a potent month of September during which he batted .313 with a league-best nine homers and 24 RBI, earning Atlantic League Player of the Month accolades.

Perez teamed with Nowak to form perhaps the league’s most formidable middle-of-the-order duo, enjoying a spectacular season in his own right. In his first year with York, Perez ranked fourth in the league in batting average (.314), home runs (23), hits (161) and runs scored (86), tied for fourth in doubles (35), fifth in RBI (86) and slugging percentage (.529), while leading the league in total bases (271) and tying for third in extra-base hits (61). His total base and extra-base hit marks established Revs single-season records, while his 23 home runs ranked fourth most in a season in team history, and his 86 RBI tied for fifth most.

Hernandez finished the year with a .303 batting average, the second highest on the team and eighth highest in the league. He added 13 home runs and 55 RBI in 105 total games played.

Haveman became a sparkplug for the team upon his signing in late May, as the Revs went 66-39 with Haveman in the leadoff spot. He burst onto the scene batting .370 in his first 34 games with York, and hit .290 overall in 106 games for the Revs with six home runs, 48 RBI, and 21 stolen bases in just 27 attempts.

The Revs placed a pair of starting pitchers on the Second Team, with Thurman earning the selection of right-handed starter, and Feierabend sharing the left-handed starter selection with Lancaster’s John Halama.

Thurman went 14-3 with a 3.82 ERA in 27 starts, tying for the league-lead in wins, while besting his own club record for wins in a season, established with 13 the year before. Having won each of his final five decisions in addition to a team-record eight-game winning streak during the first half of the season, Thurman now ranks third in league history in career wins (52) and strikeouts (476), and seventh in innings pitched (676.0). The Revs won 22 of Thurman’s 27 starts, and are 41-11 in games started by Thurman the last two seasons.

Feierabend established a new team record for ERA in a season at 2.71, third lowest in the league, to go with a 9-5 record in 18 starts. The lefty also made seven starts at Triple-A Louisville after his contract was purchased by the Cincinnati Reds on June 5, before returning to York in late July.

Gomez put up dominating numbers out of the York bullpen, going 4-1 with a 2.66 ERA in 46 appearances, while earning 17 saves in 18 tries. He came within one of matching the Revs’ single-season saves record, and racked up the fourth most saves in the league during the 2012 season. He held opponents to a .152 batting average, surrendering just 25 hits in 47.1 innings while striking out 60 batters.

Menzer shares the league’s top executive award with his predecessor in York, Matt O’Brien, now General Manager of the Sugar Land Skeeters. Menzer guided the business side of the Revolution organization to one of its most successful years to date, as the Revs experienced a 5% increase in attendance from 2011, drawing over 12,000 more fans during the regular season, and increasing the per-game attendance average by nearly 200 per game. Including the postseason, Sovereign Bank Stadium welcomed an average of 4,119 fans to the ballpark each night, capped by a playoff-record crowd of 6,437 on September 29. The Revolution has now drawn 1.6 million fans during the six seasons that the stadium has been open.